


Prompt: Comfort Media

by respoftw



Series: Comfortween 2020 [2]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Comfort, Episode Related, Episode: s04e15 Outcast, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:53:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26746198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: John returns from Earth and Rodney comes over.
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Series: Comfortween 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947178
Comments: 22
Kudos: 86
Collections: Comfortween 2020





	Prompt: Comfort Media

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a list of prompts for “Comfortween” [on dreamwidth](https://hurtcomfortex.dreamwidth.org/22946.html)
> 
> 2\. Comfort Media  
> Movie night, Netflix and comfort, sleep overs.

John was glad to be home. 

He knew that a lot of the people from Earth, even those from the first expedition, had been surprised when they first realised that they had come to consider Atlantis home but it had never been a surprise for John.From almost the moment they had stepped foot on her, John knew that Atlantis was his.That he had found a life here, made himself a family...

Family.

Shit.

John dropped his bag on the floor of his too small room and sat heavily on his too small bed.His Dad was dead.It kept hitting him out of nowhere.This trip to Earth, the funeral, it was supposed to give closure but the whole replicator thing had thrown his plans to hell and....his Dad was still dead and John still hadn’t - - he swallowed against a sudden lump in his throat, jerking in surprise when his door chimed loudly.Fisting his hands in the blanket, he was just about to call out for whoever it was to come back later when his door slid open and Rodney walked in with a laptop under his arm and a pillowcase stuffed with junk food.

“Want to watch something?” he asked, already setting the laptop up on the bed.

John grabbed on to the distraction, already sliding back on the bed until he was leaning against the wall.“You know those snacks I brought back were supposed to be for everyone, right?” he said, rummaging through the pillowcase until he found the Reece’s Cups.

“Please,” Rodney scoffed.“Do you have any idea how many things I fix for people around here?Tablets, showers, sinks, radios.All for the low, low price of salty and sugary snacks to be payable on demand.I collected.”

The image of Rodney stalking around Atlantis, banging on doors and collecting on debts - possibly with Ronon behind him acting as muscle, was enough to make John laugh.

Candy wasn’t the only thing John had brought back and he wondered whether Rodney would have picked the Coen brothers or the Dr Who Christmas special as a first watch.

“So,” he stuffed an entire cup in his mouth and kept on talking.“What are we watching?”Rodney made a disgusted noise but wasn’t hypocritical enough to complain about John talking with his mouth full.He finished fiddling with the laptop and moved to sit next to John, the bed narrow enough that their shoulders touched.It was a familiar situation to be in and John felt his chest lighten in a way it hadn’t since Sam had told him the news about his Dad.

Rodney hit a key on the laptop and shoved a Red Vine in his mouth.

John immediately recognised the video, the voice of commentator Brent Musberger sounding tinny through the speaker.It was the Boston College Eagles against the Miami Hurricanes.It was the Miracle in Miami, the Hail Flutie game.It was..it was perfect.

John had been 17 in 1984.A Senior in high school, his plans already at odds with the future his father had laid out for him.It had been a shitty Thanksgiving, he and his Dad giving each other the silent treatment at the dinner table, his Mom already sick but pretending everything was fine.The next day they had been sitting watching the game, the game that was on the screen now, and when Flutie had pulled off that Hail Mary, they had both been on their feet, screaming at the TV,and when the final whistle blew they had yelled with excitement and in all of the excitement they had forgotten everything else, just for a moment, and his Dad had pulled him in for a hug - the last hug he remembers getting from him. Rodney couldn’t have know that, all he knew was John loved this game enough to bring a copy of it to another galaxy.This was Rodney being a friend, family, trying to comfort him- - John was mortified to realise he was welling up.

Rodney noticed.Of course he did.He reached out, moving to pause the game and John stopped him, his hand gripping Rodney’s wrist tight, squeezing.

“No, don’t.”

Rodney nodded, dropping his hand into his lap, John still holding it.

He didn’t let go the rest of the game.The snacks sat uneaten but John didn’t care.At some point John’s hand found its way from Rodney’s wrist to his hand, their fingers tangling together.

When Flutie made his final play, Rodney squeezed John’s hand tight and John sucked in a breath, letting it out shakily.

“Rodney?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”


End file.
